Our columnist, one of the judges at the much-discussed championship at Aachen, gives her perspective on Totilas, Valegro, and other performances that impressed or disappointed.

The Aachen experience is a “must” on every horseman’s list, and although I have been there over the years as competitor, judge and coach, the magnitude and the activity of the showgrounds is always a shock to one’s system, and it always evolves. This year Frank Kempermann, the organizer of the German event, outdid himself in attention to detail, hospitality and ingenuity in entertainment as well as perfection in presenting the FEI European Dressage Championships, Aug. 12-16.

The opening ceremonies in the main arena included a number of celebrity riders such as Hans Günter Winkler and Nelson Pessoa riding in magnificent carriages drawn by pairs or teams. Anky van Grunsven and Isabell Werth represented dressage.

But the most impressive part was the quadrille featuring a number of state stud farms all over Germany. Sixty-eight breeding stallions performed a magnificent formation ride, each animal an outstanding mover, groomed to perfection, and capably ridden by riders in colorful uniforms representing their area. One of the riders was the Defense Minister of Germany, Ursula von der Leyen, mother of seven and likely to be a candidate for chancellor when Angela Merkel resigns. Only in Germany can you see a magnificent performance like this, which made you think they had practiced for months. In fact, the riders had only one or two opportunities to get together at Aachen before the ceremony, so they practiced the drill in their separate locations. That is dedication and discipline at work! Check out the video of their performance on YouTube.

Surprises And Disappointments

For sure this was one championship where the judges were kept on the edge of their seats. In every class unusual occurrences caused discussion and conflict amongst the spectators and the press.

The first upset came in the Grand Prix test when Totilas was not quite right behind in the trot extensions and one of the half-passes. Consequently, the scores were all over the place, but the final score for the horse was 75.97 percent. Obviously this was way below expectations, and it cost the German team their anticipated gold medal.

We also had to eliminate Alisa Kovan’ko of the Ukraine after her horse Vian Stallone hit the arena and scratched its leg just enough to start bleeding on one of the white socks. It’s sad for a rider to get to the championships, ride half a test, and have to go home. Although the horse was fine, the show was over for this combination because the Fédération Equestre Internationale blood rule is non-negotiable for the welfare of the horse.

When the two days of team tests were over and the Dutch walked in for the gold, their chef d’equipe Wim Ernes had rather a surprised look on his face because the Germans were the favorites.

Then Edward Gal of the Netherlands, who had a very solid go on Glock’s Undercover in the Grand Prix (82.29%) with only a few moments behind the vertical and reasonable relaxation, was rung out of the Special as his horse started to bleed from the mouth. Undercover obviously bit his tongue, but to nobody’s surprise. The horse was visibly tense arriving at the arena, and even Gal’s skill could not disguise the fact that the animal was ready to burst out of his skin. The halt never happened, and shortly afterward the possible individual silver medalist had to leave the ring.

In the same class another top contender, Sweden’s Patrik Kittel on Deja, ran into trouble when the talented mare got her tongue stuck between the bits and became so agitated that Kittel made the wise decision to retire.

Great Britain’s Valegro and Charlotte Dujardin stayed the course on top of the scoreboard, but Desperados and Kristina Bröring-Sprehe of Germany started to close in on them in the Special. Werth was much more convincing than in the Grand Prix, where Don Johnson appeared unbalanced and labored, especially in the piaffe. Then Werth had, as she later described it, “a blonde moment,” and went off course for a split second by walking too early. Before anybody could react she was back in action, but of course she paid in the scores.

By the freestyle Werth and the bay were completely in step with each other and the music, and she had the most vigorous and uplifting artistic work of all the freestyles. If Werth’s horse had better self-carriage, especially in the piaffe and passage, she could have swept the freestyle that day. She has the same ability as van Grunsven often showed to come from behind, and with Werth it is never over until the “fat lady sings!”

After very hot weather during the Grand Prix and two tests already won, our superstar Valegro was not quite on his game when the freestyle came around. He made several mistakes in the one-tempis and lost his engagement in a couple of the piaffes. Extensions and trot half-passes were brilliant as usual, but it was not nearly the horse I remember from his freestyle at Olympia (Great Britain) last December. It’s not possible to be in top form for every single performance, and the very hot conditions and the constant effort I am sure took their toll on Valegro.

The heat did not appear to put a damper on Desperados, however, since the leggy black stallion improved with each performance. From being not overly convincing and a bit tight in the Grand Prix, he grew with the task and laid down a faultless and confident test in the freestyle (88.80%).

When the scores went up on the board on Sunday, showing Valegro (89.05%) ahead by a very slim margin, the audience demonstrated their opinion with loud whistling and booing. This is not because of nationality. The 45,000 people watching the freestyle at Aachen are a very knowledgeable audience who know what they’re looking at, and it’s not the first time I’ve heard them state their case.

Back in 1993 when van Grunsven had a great go at Aachen on her chestnut stallion Olympic Cocktail, but Monica Theodorescu won aboard Ganimedes TecRent, they protested as well, and when I was working with our team in Aachen in 2011 they vigorously supported Steffen Peters and Ravel over their own horse Totilas in the freestyle.

Between the strange happenings, there were many lovely performances. Beatriz Ferrer-Salat from Spain has waited for two years for her horse Delgado to recover from an injury, and in Aachen she was rewarded for her patience. Her freestyle was flowing and clever, really showing the elasticity and forward attitude of the impressive chestnut and hiding some of the lack of lateral suppleness.

Don Auriello was as always beautifully presented by Tinne Vilhelmson Silfven, but he gave his most inspired work in the Grand Prix and lost some of his engagement behind as the days went on.

One of my favorite newcomers is the French horse Don Luis ridden by Karen Tebar. He was lovely and soft in the contact, alert and willing throughout, but being only 10, his tests had their mistakes here and there, and his power is not yet consistent.

Where To Draw The Line

Behind the scenes, the judges had extra work to do with the Judges Supervisory Panel, consisting of two judges and one trainer. This panel has been present and active at championships for the last couple of years to correct scores that are wrong because a judge has missed a mistake that is obvious on the video the panel can play back. They can also correct a score up or down if it is 6 percent or more away from the average score of the whole judges panel. This way we safeguard the competitors against hiccups in judging that are avoidable and should be set right.

The JSP (nicknamed judges’ GPS) also meets with the judges at the end of each class, goes over the corrections and shows videos where there were divided opinions amongst the judges. Perhaps we were extra lucky, because our panel this time (Germany’s Uwe Mechlem, Australia’s Mary Seefried and Great Britain’s David Hunt) was informative, positive and supportive in every way, which made the sometimes long and detailed meetings educational and actually fun.

In spite of the many unexpected problems we had to deal with and the long hours, the atmosphere throughout was one of team spirit and mutual support, a lot thanks to Katrina Wüst, the head of the ground jury, who is extremely well organized and has never ending energy to share.

The German press was sometimes brutal when dwelling on the Totilas issue, blaming the rider, the owners and the chef d’equipe for bringing the horse to the ring. I asked the people who saw him in the veterinary check if he looked odd. I was told that he was not perfect; there was a discussion, but there were at least three other horses that looked about the same, and they passed.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and not having been there when he was presented, but having to judge him later I could take the position that he should have been spun. However, that could have eliminated several other questionable horses, and where do you draw the line? Even in the test, Totilas did not appear so uncomfortable that the judge at C felt compelled to ring him out. Matthias Rath eventually withdrew his horse from the Special, which was correct, because sound or not, another test in this atmosphere would have been a no-win situation for this combination.

In the end, I’m glad Totilas left the ring and his competitive career with a respectable score, since a lot of the stallion’s work in the test was quite up to par, and some of it was vintage Totilas. The many fans of this horse the world over want to remember Totilas as the icon of dressage that he truly is. None of our famous horses over the history of dressage has so captivated people, old and young, or made as many converts to our sport through his beauty and presence as has Totilas.

Anne Gribbons was the U.S Equestrian Federation technical advisor for dressage from 2010-2012. She has trained and shown 15 horses of her own to Grand Prix and competed in 10 national championships, as well as in Europe, including the Aachen CHIO (Germany). Seven of her horses have been named U.S. Dressage Federation Horse of the Year, and she was a member of the 1995 Pan American Games silver medal-winning team for the United States. Anne is a Fédération Equestre Internationale five-star judge, and she was a member of the FEI Dressage Committee from 2010-2013. She was inducted into the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame in 2013. Anne started contributing to Between Rounds in 1995, and a collection of those columns is now available in the book Collective Remarks.